[PD] perception of sound

[CK]

hi,

I'm not sure I completely understand the question but I'll give it a shot:

I read:
> have no competences : I've got a buzzer which aims at producing a sound

what's a buzzer ? like a huge gameshow button ?

> sequence when a certain default occurs. The buzzer behaviour is controlled 
> by two parameters : its volume and the waveform used to produce the alarm 
> sequence.
> It seems for many people that the alarm level is not enough strong, even 
> at full blast so here's my question :
> do you know if there are some rules that make a sound appear more strong 
> than another at an identic level ?

higher freuqncies are generally perceived as louder

> Does the solution resides in considering a square wave (or whatever else)
> instead of a sine one ? Or should I have to set up a more complex waveform

square waves have rich harmonics = more high frequencies -> they will be per-
ceived as louder than a pure sine at the same level.

> (such as major chords, add a square to a sine...) ?

this might not work as expected, esp. since you'll require noticeable dynamic
changes.

http://www.indiana.edu/~emusic/acoustics/acoustics.htm

HTH

x

-- 
chris at lo-res.org	Postmodernism is german romanticism with better
http://pilot.fm/	special effects. (Jeff Keuss / via ctheory.com)